Golf club shaft



Aug. 8, 1933. H. c. LAGERBLADE GOLF CLUB SHAFT Filed Sept. l, 1951 n v1. f

,Ln/i1 5% n W Patented Aug. 8, 1933 UNITED STATES GULF CLUB SHAFT Herbert C. Lager-blade, Bristol, Conn., assigner toThe Horton Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Conn., a Corporation of Connecticut Application September 1, 1931. Serial No. 560,629

3 Claims.

This `invention relates to improvements in golf clubs, and particularly to golf club shafts.

Primarily, an object of 'the invention is to construct agolf club shaft that will possess maximum efficiency but which, nevertheless, may be partially composed of materials which have hereu tofore been considered scrap material by golf club manufacturers.

More specincally, the invention contemplates a golf club shaft made up of tubular metallic material connected together into a composite shaft by a novel form of fastening means which will insure the proper degree of rigidity and strength in the finished shaft.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in certain details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will hereinafter be more fully described, and the novel features thereof particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is an elevational view of a golf club constructed in accordance with the present invention, a portion of the handle wrappingrbe ing broken away;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the shaft at the upper handle end thereof;

Figs. 3, Il and 5 constitute a series of views illustrating the shaft sections and the connecting elements by which the two sections are joined together into the composite shaft, these elements being shown separately in the several figures.

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view on the line 6-5 of Fig. 2.

In the course of a years production of golf shafts, thousands of pieces of shaft material ranging in length from eighteen inches in length upward, are accumulated. Under ordinary practices, these pieces of material are not long enough for use in a golf club shaft so that they have heretofore been scrapped. Therefore, to utilize this scrap material, the present invention contemplates a golf club shaft having a handle section made from the scrapmaterial, this handle section being secured to the member constituting the major portion of the shaft by a form of connection that will insure the desired rigidity and strength in the finished article.

As illustrated in the drawing, the shaft comprises a major section 10, and a handle section 11. The usual club head 12 is attached to one end of section 10 by suitable fastening elements and the handle section l1 is attached to the opposite end of said section 10.

Both sections 10 and 11 are tubular metallic elements of tapering cross section. The head 12 Vis attached to the smaller end of section 10 and inserted in the larger end of said section is a wooden plug 13 also of tapering cross section.

The shaft sections and the plug are preferably ff made of this tapering section in order that the plug may be wedged in the shaft section 10 with a driving t. However, this driving it is not relied upon as the sole means of securing the plug in said section 10. section by one or more cross pins 14 extending transversely through the plug and shaft section. The plug is also preferably formed with a shoulder which engages against the end of the said section. Plug 13 projects a short distance beyond the end of said shaft section 10 and the handle section 11 extends over this otherwise exposed portion of the plug and overlaps, to a small extent, the shaft section 10. As appears in the drawing, the shaft section 10 extends the major portion of the length of the finished shaft.

The principal fastening means for attaching the handle section 11 to the plug 13 consists of a cross pin 15 extending transversely of the plug and through the walls of the handle section. in this way, the several parts are nrmly held against relative rotary movement with respect 'to one another, and by having the handle section overlap the section 10 the fastening pin 14 is completely concealed by the handle section. In the nished it is primarily secured in said l shaft the handle Section and the joint between plug 13 and the major section 10 are illustrated Y disassembled. In Fig. 4 there is seen the longitudinally extending recess 18 for accommodation of a brazing strip 19 that is used in the manufacture of seamed golf shafts. Of course, the

lengths of the maior section 10 and the handle section 11, respectively, will vary somewhat, but as a rule, the major section 10 will be approximately twentyefour inches in length and the handle section upwards of ten inches in length. In this way practically all material which has heretoforev been scrapped by golf club manufacturers can be utilized in the normal shaft production.

By having the handle section l1 overlying the cross pin 14, that portion of the major section l0 in which the holes for said pin are formed is greatly strengthened. Furthermore, the present form of connection is much more desirable. than would be a connection formed by welding, because welding would draw the temper of the shaft sections and thereby necessitate re-heat treating, a step which would not be feasible because, in going through the heats necessary in hardening and tempering, a certain quantity of the carbon content of the shaft material would be eliminated. Also, such treating would tend to coarsen the grain.

In addition to the wedging fit of the plug in the major section 10 and the use of the fastening pins 14, 15, soldering or cementing of the steel handle section to the steel major section 10 may be utilized, but this is not necessary. The form of connection shown and described will suffice under normal usages of the club, but the soldering or cementing can be resorted to as an additional precaution, if desired.

What I claim is:

1. A substantially all-metallic golf club shaft, comprising a hollow tubular metallic section eX- tending the major portion of the length of the shaft and adapted to be secured at one end in a golf club head, a Wooden member rigidly secured in the other end of said section, and a hollow metallic handle section rigidly secured to said wooden'member and overlapping the rst mentioned section.

2. A substantially all-metallic golf club shaft comprising a tapered tubular metallic section extending the major portion of the length of the shaft and adapted to be secured at its smaller end in a golf club head, a tapered Wooden member making a driving lit in the larger end of said section and projecting beyond said section end, a fastening element extending transversely through said shaft section and wooden member, and a tapered tubular metallic section constituting the handle portion of the shaft, said handle section being rigidly attached to and projecting beyond the larger end of said wooden member.

3. A substantially all-metallic golf club shaft comprising a tubular metallic section extending the major portion of the length of said shaft, and adapted to have a club head attached to one end thereof, a Wooden iiller in the opposite end 0I said section and projecting therefrom, fastening means extending transversely through said ller and section, a tubular metallic handle section extending over said filler and the first mentioned section and concealing said fastening means, and means for rigidly securing said handle section to said Wooden ller.

HERBERT C. LAGERBLADE. 

